In this issue:

• New Partnership Coming Soon | Fisher Scientific x Possible Missions
• BruinBuy Plus Enhancements | NOW LIVE: Assigned Buyers
• Resource Spotlight | NEW! Leadership Web Page
• Invoice Submission | PO Number Formatting
• Direct Pay Forms | REMINDER: PDF Attachments Required 
• Irregular Invoices | Latest Resolution Deadlines
• Office Hours | Non-T&E Reimbursement Update
• System Maintenance | September 2026
• Biweekly Forecast | Office Hours & Other Events
• In Case You Missed It... | A Glance At Previous News

New Partnership | COMING SOON: Fisher Scientific x Possible Missions

UCLA and Fisher Scientific are excited to announce a new economic impact partnership with Possible Missions, a small, woman- and minority-owned life sciences business supporting higher education and health services.

Designed to enhance support for UC research operations and help departments more easily meet federal grant obligations, this collaboration advances UCLA's economic impact goals while creating a more resilient research supply chain.

Keep an eye out for complete details in our upcoming launch announcement!

BruinBuy Plus Enhancement | NOW LIVE: Assigned Buyers

As part of our commitment to strengthening departmental support, Campus Purchasing is introducing assigned Buyers!

What Does This Mean?

As of August 27, select departments with high purchasing activity now have a dedicated Goods and/or Services Buyer assigned to them. These Buyers will serve as a department’s primary point of contact for requisition and change request processing – transactions will automatically route to them in BruinBuy Plus.

This enhancement is designed to:

• Improve customer service and responsiveness
• Strengthen communication between departments and Campus Purchasing
• Provide more consistent guidance and support

We expect this to improve service levels for the entire campus community through more efficient workload management and faster response times.

Do I Have an Assigned Buyer?

Departments may be assigned a Goods Buyer, a Services Buyer, or both. Visit the Campus Purchasing & Payables website to view Buyer-department assignments.

If your department only has one Buyer, transactions associated with the unassigned purchase category will continue to be triaged to Campus Purchasing team members on a first-come, first-served basis.

How to Get Support

Moving forward:

• If your department has an assigned Buyer, contact them directly for requisition/PO support, purchasing policy guidance, and related questions within their area of responsibility (i.e., Goods vs. Services).*
• If your department does not have any assigned Buyers OR does not have an assigned Buyer for the purchase type you are working on, continue to submit questions through the BruinBuy Plus Service Desk.*

*Non-purchasing questions should continue to be submitted through the BruinBuy Plus Service Desk. 

Resource Spotlight | NEW! Leadership Web Page

Need help understanding recent organizational changes within UCLA Procurement? Our brand-new Leadership web page has you covered. Access leadership contacts and support information for all units within Procurement Services & Supply Chain Operations, including:

• Campus Purchasing & Payables
• Insurance & Risk Management
• Mail, Document & Distribution Services
• Tax Services
• Travel Accounting
• UC Travel Center
• Global Operations

Invoice Submission | PO Number Formatting

When an invoice is submitted to UCLA, it is scanned by Digital Capture, an optical character recognition (OCR) tool that extracts key invoice details and matches them to the appropriate purchase order (PO). Because BruinBuy Plus cannot read handwritten invoice information, accurate PO number formatting is critical to ensure invoices are processed correctly.

• If the PO number is missing or incorrect, ask your vendor to update the invoice directly versus writing it in yourself. Ideally, the typed PO number should match the font used throughout the invoice. Black font is preferred; neon and red are not supported.
• Make sure the PO number matches what you see in BruinBuy Plus – no spaces or extra characters. It should also appear in its own invoice field separate from other information.

REMINDER: As a best practice, vendors should submit their own invoices whenever possible.

Direct Pay Forms | REMINDER: PDF Attachments Required

To help prevent processing delays, all supporting documentation submitted with a Direct Pay Form must be uploaded in PDF format. Submissions that include non-PDF attachments, such as Word documents, Excel files, JPGs, or PNGs, will be placed on hold until PDF versions are provided.

A quick check now can help prevent delays later! Before you hit submit on a Direct Pay Form, ask yourself:

1. Have I included all supporting documentation?
2. Are the documents clear, legible, and complete?
3. Are all attachments in PDF format?

Irregular Invoices | Latest Resolution Deadlines

The Irregular Invoice Resolution Calendar has been updated with the latest department deadlines.

Not sure how to identify the invoices your team is responsible for actioning? Follow the steps in the How to View & Sort Irregular Invoices by Hold Date training guide.

TIP: Add upcoming deadlines to your calendar through our dynamic Events feed.

REMINDER: Next Deadline

Irregular invoices with a hold date of August 17, 2026, through August 31, 2026, must be actioned by departments no later than end of day Monday, September 14.

If the necessary department action(s) is not taken by this deadline, impacted invoices may be rejected or pushed to payment. Additional information on how unactioned invoices are centrally addressed can be found on the Irregular Invoice Resolution Calendar web page. 

NEW! September – October Deadlines

Resources & Support

• Comprehensive instructions for viewing and addressing irregular invoices are available on the Irregular Invoice Reporting and Irregular Invoice Resolution web pages.
• Receive live support through office hours.

Office Hours | Non-T&E Reimbursement Update

Starting September 10, our non-T&E reimbursement team will be joining Accounts Payable’s office hours! By consolidating invoice and non-T&E reimbursement support into a single session, we’re making it easier for you to get the help you need, when you need it. 

NOTE: Separate Non-T&E Reimbursement office hours will be discontinued as part of this change. Accounts Payable office hours will continue to follow their usual schedule.

System Maintenance  | September 2026

To support monthly system maintenance, BruinBuy Plus may be unavailable during the following periods: 

Please plan your transactions and activities accordingly. If you have any questions or experience issues, submit a ticket to our Service Desk. 

TIP: Add BruinBuy Plus planned outage events to your calendar!

Biweekly Forecast | September 7 – September 18

TIP: If a date is not listed in the biweekly forecast, it did not have a planned activity at the time of publishing. Access our dynamic events feed for the most-current list of upcoming activities.

In Case You Missed It... 

Stericycle (dba Shred-It) Agreement Ended Sept. 1

UCLA's agreement with Stericycle (dba Shred-It) expired on Tuesday, September 1.

What Does This Mean?

• As of September 1, new Stericycle orders cannot be placed.
• Invoices for services rendered prior to September 1, 2026, will still be processed. 
• Departments can continue to submit Change Requests and/or new POs to resolve irregular invoices associated with services rendered prior to September 1, 2026.

NOTE: The Stericycle CCT contract (#0000KLA015) has been deactivated. Moving forward, all Stericycle requisitions will route to Strategic Sourcing for review.

What You Need to Do

Departments who were using Stericycle services should coordinate with Angelica Plascencia-Michel regarding:

• Pick-up of Stericycle shredding bins
• Closure of existing accounts

If your department still requires shredding services, please use Iron Mountain. 

DID YOU KNOW? PCard is the recommended payment method for Iron Mountain! Join PCard office hours if you have any questions.

Need Help?

We’re here to support you during this transition. Contact help@it.ucla.edu or attend an upcoming Purchasing office hour.

Stale Vendor Invitation Clean-Up Effort

Prior to the January 2024 launch of BruinBuy Plus, departments were responsible for sending PaymentWorks invitations directly to vendors. Today, the vendor onboarding invitation process is managed centrally by Vendor Management.

As part of ongoing record maintenance efforts, Vendor Management is partnering with PaymentWorks to cancel approximately 16,000 department-initiated invitations that have been pending since December 2023 and earlier.

What Does This Mean?

Over the next several months, you may receive email notifications from no-reply=paymentworks.com@m.paymentworks.com indicating that your previously issued vendor invitation has been canceled. 

What You Need to Do

If you receive a cancellation notice and still need to do business with the vendor:

1. Determine whether the vendor has already completed onboarding through a different PaymentWorks invitation. Review the How to Identify Vendor Registration Status in BruinBuy Plus guide for instructions.
2. If the vendor has not been onboarded, create a new PO to initiate the current vendor onboarding process.

We'll continue to share updates as this effort progresses. If you have any questions, contact vendmgmt@finance.ucla.edu. 

BruinBuy Plus Recap Cadence

We’ve transitioned our BruinBuy Plus Recap to a biweekly publication schedule. We’ll be back in your inbox on September 18.

Recap Mailing List Form

Would one of your colleagues benefit from receiving the weekly BruinBuy Plus Recap? Have them complete our mailing list form! 

NOTE: If you already receive the BruinBuy Plus Recap, no action is needed. 

Need Help? | We're Here to Support!